reflections, updates and homilies from Deacon Mike Talbot inspired by the following words from my ordination: Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach...

Jeremy Triche, Brandon Nielsen: Slain St. John Parish deputies

Published: Thursday, August 16, 2012

Jeremy Triche, one of two St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff's deputies fatally shot early Thursday morning in LaPlace, would have turned 28 in four days, according to an online profile of his. The other slain deputy, 34-year-old Brandon Nielsen, listed about a dozen years of experience at various local law enforcement agencies on a professional networking site online.

View full sizeSt. John the Baptist Sheriff's OfficeSt. John Parish deputies Brandon Nielson, left, and Jeremy Triche, right, were killed in a shootout early Thursday morning.

Here are a few details on the professional backgrounds of each:
At sitepicture.co, which describes itself as a "film and broadcast company for the firearms and shooting industries," Triche's page says that he was assigned to the St. John Sheriff's K-9, narcotics and Special Operations Response Team units. Triche, a LaPlace resident, was a standout baseball catcher and football center for St. Charles Catholic, and he graduated from Southern Arkansas University in 2008. He was married and had a 2-year-old son, and his next birthday would have been Aug. 20.
Meanwhile, Nielsen's LinkedIn profile indicates he had been working as a motorcycle deputy and traffic crash investigator for the St. John Parish Sheriff's Office since October 2010. Prior to that, he had done the same jobs for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office for about four years and eight months.

Nielsen had also spent time with the Pontchartrain Levee District Police Department; as a patrolman for the Gramercy Police Department; as a field training officer for the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office; and as a correctional officer for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office, dating back to 2000, the profile noted.
Nielsen was married and had five children between the ages of 6 and 18.
Authorities say Triche and Nielsen were killed while investigating a separate attack that wounded one of their colleagues, Michael Scott Boyington. While working a traffic detail, Boyington was ambushed at a remote parking lot for the Valero refinery at the intersection of Louisiana 3217 and Airline Highway for reasons that were not immediately known.

St. John Parish Sheriff's OfficeSt. John Parish sheriff's deputies Michael Scott Boyington, left, and Jason Triche, right, were injured in the first shootout early Thursday morning.

The subsequent investigation into that incident led deputies to the nearby Riverview Trailer Park, where there was a car matching the description of a vehicle involved in the initial shooting. Nielsen, Jason Triche and Jeremy Triche then began questioning a man in a trailer when they noticed a second man inside who was fully clothed but under a blanket. The deputies asked both men to come outside, and the men complied.
However, a third man jumped out of the trailer with an assault weapon and opened fire, slaying Nielsen and Jeremy Triche and hurting another deputy, Jason Triche, 30.
At a news conference Thursday morning, St. John Sheriff Mike Tregre said, "This is a very difficult day. I lost two good men."
Tregre asked the public to pray for the recoveries of Boyington and Jason Triche, who underwent surgery for their injuries.
The violence has shocked communities in the metro New Orleans area and across the state. In Baton Rouge, Gov. Bobby Jindal vowed that the Louisiana State Police, which is overseeing the investigation into the shootings of the deputies, "will be working with other law enforcement agencies to ... make sure the suspects are prosecuted to the fullest extent."
Jindal remarked in a written statement, "The men and women of our law enforcement are heroes who run towards danger, not away from it, so that we can be safe."
Jeremy Triche and Nielsen are the first St. John deputies to die in the line of duty in more than six years, the sheriff's website says. Capt. Octavio "Ox" Gonzalez was killed in an ambush on June 16, 2006, during a manhunt for a suspect who had shot another deputy earlier.Staff writer Lori Lyons contributed to this report.

>>>>This is remarkably tragic. In the "river parishes"of Louisiana, many of them named for Catholic Saints, like St. John the Baptist and St. Charles, where this event took place; servants died. Servants were unceremoniously gunned down. Servants left family, friends and fellow deputies because they were killed in the line of duty. They were killed brutally, no chance, killed responding to a previous event that left a brother seriously wounded.

Please pray for these servants. Please pray for their families and friends. Please pray for those who knew them best at the St. John the Baptist Sheriff's department. Pray for all police officers and first responders. Lord have mercy on us!

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About Me

Deacon Mike is a Permanent Deacon for the Archdiocese of New Orleans currently assigned to Saint Jane de Chantal Parish in Abita Springs, LA, St. Michael's Mission in Bush, La and Rayburn Correctional Center in Angie, LA. He is married to Wendy since 1977, the father of James and Elizabeth and the grandfather of Calvin and Katelyn. He is a banker employed by First NBC Bank. Huge fan of all things LSU and happy to have witnessed the Super Bowl victory of the New Orleans Saints in 2010.